Hamas Agrees Gaza Truce

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has accepted an Egyptian-brokered 18-month truce with Israel in return for lifting the crippling Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.

"We have agreed to a truce with Israel for one year and a half," Hamas political deputy chief Moussa Abu-Marzouq told IslamOnline.net.

"Under the deal, all Gaza’s six crossings will be opened and all forms of military action and aggression be halted.

"We will have the right to respond to any Israeli violation of the truce," he said.

An Egyptian source confirmed that Hamas told Egypt that it has accepted the truce deal with Israel.

"Egypt will hold contacts with (Palestinian) President Mahmoud Abbas, faction leaders and the Israeli side to agree on some technical issues before announcing the truce in the coming two days," he told IOL.

The new truce deal will replace a fragile ceasefire declared after last month’s deadly Israeli war in Gaza, which killed more than 1,400 people and wounded 5,450.

Egypt has been mediating a long-term truce deal between Israel and Hamas as the two sides refuse to talk to each others.

During the Israeli war, Egypt had proposed a three-point truce plan beginning with an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, followed by meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials to secure a long-term ceasefire.

Egypt also proposed the resumption of Palestinian unity talks.

"A second item of Egypt’s three-point ceasefire plan will be realized once the truce is announced," the source said.

"We will then move ahead to implement the third item for achieving Palestinian reconciliation and restoring unity."

Gaza Crossings

An Egyptian source said the deal stipulates an 18-month Gaza truce between the Palestinian factions and Israel.

"Under the deal, all parties will abide by ceasing fire and refraining from all forms of hostilities for a period that can be renewed with the approval of all parties," the source told IOL.

The deal grants the Palestinian and Israeli parties the right for an "immediate response" to any aggression.

It also stipulates the creation of a 300-meter buffer zone on Gaza-Israel border where gunmen are not allowed.

"(In return) Israel will abide by opening Gaza’s six crossings to goods and fuel to meet the needs of the Gaza population," said the source.

Israel has been closing all commercial crossings with Gaza since Hamas’s takeover, leaving the 1.6 million population without electricity, water and sewage services for up to 16 hours a day.

The truce deal also speaks of deploying Turkish monitors to join their European peers to operate the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s sole window to the outside world.

It also allows Palestinian factions, including Hamas, to have members among the Palestinian Authority forces at the terminal under the 2005 border deal with Israel.

The deal also says Egypt is the sole body responsible for monitoring its borders with Gaza without any foreign presence.

Guarantees

Hamas officials said that Egypt has offered guarantees for implementing the truce deal with Israel.

"Cairo has pledged to intervene to stop any Israeli breach," members at Hamas’s delegation in Cairo told IOL.

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